Comment: As I read the questions addressed on this website I understand that I indeed can/must “work” my way to heaven and Christ did not pay the whole price for my sin. And I am reminded of people all around us like my own mother (now deceased) who could read but there is no way on this earth my dear uneducated uncomplicated mother could have gotten to heaven in the Catholic church. She could not have understood all this..your info on this site sounds like “hopelessness” for a mere human being….am at a loss for words-satan couldn’t defeat me today but I daresay your website has come near to doing just that.Response: I am sorry you felt defeated after reading my website. But let me assure you, you have misunderstood. The Catholic Faith does not teach that we must work our way to Heaven. That is what some who are misinformed say we teach. But they are wrong.

The minimum requirements for salvation in the Catholic Church are very easy and full of mercy and grace with the safety net of Confession. They are called the Precepts of the Catholic Church. CCC

THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH

2041 The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor:

2042 The first precept (”You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.”) requires the faithful to participate in the Eucharistic celebration when the Christian community gathers together on the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord.[82]

The second precept (”You shall confess your sins at least once a year.”) ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, which continues Baptism’s work of conversion and forgiveness.[83]

The third precept (”You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season.”) guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord’s Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy.[84]

2043 The fourth precept (”You shall keep holy the holy days of obligation.”) completes the Sunday observance by participation in the principal liturgical feasts which honor the mysteries of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, and the saints.[85]

The fifth precept (”You shall observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence.”) ensures the times of ascesis (exertion/eercise) and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts; they help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.[86]

The faithful also have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his abilities

The hardest one is to actually get to Mass each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation. The good works required of us, (“Faith without works is dead” James 2) help in our purification and reparation for our sin. But you don’t have to understand all the theology to follow the precepts and do good works. It is really pretty easy. We are not saved by how much theology we know but by our Obedience of Faith as St. Paul opens and closes Romans. This website is to explain Catholic theology to those who are interested. But it is not necessary to be saved.

Our Heavenly Father is full of mercy and desires that every single person would come to Heaven with HIM.

I for one am glad that CDs and Ipods etc. have taken over from records for personal music entertainment. There are songs that to this day when I hear them I tense up waiting for that part of the song that has been seared into my mind as having a skip that used to plague the records I had when I was very small.

“Does your chewing gum lose its flavor
on the bedpost over night?
And you mother says, “Don’t chew it,”
Do swallow it, (click) Do you swallow it, (click) Do you swallow it”
(Vwwwwwwip.)
“in spite.”

This summer our African Missionary in the Ivory Coast, West Africa, travelled north in his country to the city of Mandallah, and the St. John the Baptist Mission to delivery 688 bibles in two native languages spoken by the villagers.

Above, at a special Mass at which the bibles were presented to the congregation, the altar servers carried some of the bibles to the altar.

The grant to purchase these bibles for the mission was provided by a Catholic foundation in Raleigh, North Carolina. The congregation was most grateful and will use these bibles in their catechism classes.

Below One Bread’s African representative, Bekoli Boika, presents the bibles to the priest in front of the congregation.

The Congregation of St John the Baptist Mission at the start of the Mass at which the bibles were presented.

Since the Deep in History Conferences began we have journeyed together from the time of the Early Fathers to the beginning of the Catholic Church here in North America. October 23rd 2009 marks a new beginning in our journey to the past as the Deep in History Conference turns to the theme of the History of Catholic Doctrine.

Once again the focus of these weekends is to assist both Catholics and non-Catholics in their understanding what it means to be Deep in History, Deep in Scripture and Deep in Christ. In 2009, we will begin on the “rock” looking to understand the question of Authority: The Pillar and Bulwark. Read the rest of this entry »

Q. I also would like to raise the question of a person continually reproducing offspring that they cannot afford to clothe and feed. Do you think that God would approve of us conceiving a child that we cannot feed, clothe, or nurture?

A. Regulation of family size is completely under the control of the parents. It is very simple–abstinence. That is how responsible people have since the beginning of history have been able to regulate their family size when necessary. Self control/self mastery is a Christian Virtue. It is our post-Christian culture that has come to believe that having sex is an inalienable right!

Q. I believe that every child is a precious gift from God, but do you believe that God intentionally allows a child to be born to drug addicts or child abusers?

A. No. He created our fertility. Our job is to seek to live virtuous and holy lives and love Him. Drug Addicts and child abusers and children born to them are the result of the sinful choices man makes with his free will. Does God intend these choices? Absolutely not. But He does allow it. You will have to take that up with God.

Q. I believe this becomes a question of our free will. Yes he wants us to be frutiful and multiply. Yes he wants us to have children and teach them about God, but he would want us to use our brain and not create children that may be loved from the depth of our heart, but cannot be provided for.

A. I could not agree more. So, self denial is called for in order to regulate family size.

Q. More often than not, this actually leads to a family having more children than they can possibly afford and can lead to money issues which can lead to abuse of an innocent child.

A. It is not cause and effect. Yes, poverty can stress parents. But I live in Southern California and travel down to Mexico where there is a lot of poverty due to government corruption. And, yes, a friend of mine and her family left their father in Mexico because he was abusive…but they were NOT poor. Although, of course, I don’t doubt it can happen in poor families also. But do you know what I see in Mexico and here in the US among poorer Mexicans? Love and celebration of family. Because of their poverty they value that which is eternal –people/family and friends. No doubt this will change, unfortunately the longer they are here. But poverty does NOT cause abuse, sin does that. Poverty oddly enough gives better clarity about what has lasting value.